Memory Of You
by Black-Neko-Chan
Summary: Ryoko knew it was stupid. He'd been evil. He'd tried to kill her and keep her away from her friends and her Tenchi. But even with that knowledge, she couldn't help looking at his glasses and thinking back on her days as a space pirate with her partner.


Hiya peoples! So this is my first ever Tenchi fanfic! Yay! I's so happy! Anyways, it's Ryoko and Hotsuma! (Ryostuma!) Why? Because even though I do love Ryoko and Tenchi, Tenchi never pays any attention to her, and Hotsuma actually did (nevermind the fact that he turned out to be a jerk .) So whatever, I got random inspiration because I thought it was cute and so I wrote this! So now I'll stop babbling and actually let you all read it, heheh XP

Oh, one more thing real quick: I'm taking small bits and pieces from Muyo and Universe when I write this, so it isn't solely based on Tokyo. Why? Because I can.

**Disclaimer of Magical Awesomeness!: **I do not own any of the Tenchi series! I do not own the characters! I own nothing really! So suing me shall get you a big fat wad of nothing!

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Ryoko sat atop a tree branch, one hand on the truck of the tree and the other fiddling with something in her lap. Her usually ever alert, pale yellow, cat-like eyes were now dazedly looking at the sparkling lake in front of the Masaki household. It was a full moon tonight, and the reflection of the moon shone brightly on the glossy, undulating surface of the lake. The woods, normally bustling with activity and noises even at night if you listened hard enough, were quiet and serene. Only the hooting of a night owl disrupted the silence of the night, and even that only added to the peaceful tranquility of it all.

The scene was familiar: Tenchi was being stupid again, choosing some other girl over her, forgetting all about poor Ryoko and her feelings until finally she left. It had been happening more and more frequently, ever since Tenchi had returned from Tokyo, and she knew why all right. He was still in love with that girl, Sakuya, even though he knew she'd just been Yugi's shadow. Tenchi was still in love with her, and because none of them were her he got upset easily. But that wasn't the only problem. They were all together again, and that was good, but Yugi's little trick to separate them all had succeeded, at least a little bit. They had all undergone small changes. Or at least Ryoko had.

Ryoko took her eyes off the lake and instead focused on the object in her hands. It was a pair of glasses, the lens broken and the frame twisted and blackened. She had changed all right, but for her it was not because of Yugi, but because of the man to whom these glasses had belonged. Hotsuma. Her one and only partner.

There was a lot to be said about Hotsuma, and a lot of it wasn't any good. He had lied to her and tricked her and then tried to kill her. He had said sweet and fanciful words to her of how he wished to be the one she thought of, the one that made her beautiful and radiant. He had given her small looks or touches when they passed in the halls of his ship, looks and touches that had been meant for the two of them only. He'd done whatever she wanted him to and had proclaimed that he loved her, but that had all been lies. He's been working for Yugi all along and had just been trying to fool her and keep her away from Tenchi. Then he had tried to kill her, and instead she had killed him. And the worst part of it all was that until she had heard how he really felt about her, she had almost believed him.

Ryoko played with the broken glasses some more, opening them and closing them, lost in thought. Yes, there was a lot to be said about Hotsuma, much of it bad, but not all of it. He had succeeded in causing her to once again take up her job as a space pirate. He had been her partner. And that was saying something.

Up until she had come to Earth Ryoko had always been alone. Sure, she had Ryo-ohki and even Nagi, who was sort of her friend, but that was it. She was always alone, and that suited her perfectly. In her particular profession it was much easier to be alone. And she liked being alone. Or at least she had until she crash landed on Earth and became friends with Tenchi and the others. Who would have thought it? Ryoko, the most wanted space pirate in the galaxy needed friends? It was utterly preposterous!

Maybe it had been that newfound need for friends and companionship that had caused it and maybe it hadn't, but either way, Ryoko had become partners with Hotsuma. After seeing Tenchi with Sakuya she had been deeply hurt and felt horrible. The pain she'd felt was worse than any wound she had ever acquired, and what made it all the more terrible was that Tenchi was completely aware of her feelings when he'd done it. He would have had to be denser than Mihoshi to not notice the way both she and Ayeka threw themselves at him. But he had done it anyways and rendered Ryoko's heart in two. Maybe that was whey she had gone Hotsuma. Because she was hurt and broken and she'd needed someone to help her fix it. Or maybe she had gone merely because she'd thought this curious idolatry would turn out to be interesting. Either way, Hotsuma had become her first and last partner. Even if she did ever go to piracy, she wouldn't find another. Her first experience hadn't been a very good one.

Even as she thought this however, Ryoko sighed. No, that wasn't completely true. The ending had turned out bad but the trip to it had been a good one. She wouldn't mind going through it all over again. It had been fun.

"Hotsuma, Hotsuma, Hotsuma. You just had to be the bad guy, didn't you?" Ryoko sighed, chuckling softly near the end as her hand clenched around the glasses.

Ryoko couldn't cook like Sasami could. She wasn't a brilliant scientist like Washu. She couldn't make everyone laugh, even if it was at her own expense like Mihoshi could. She didn't have a strong sense of moral righteousness like Kiyone. She wasn't graceful and lady-like like Ayeka could be when she put her mind to it. She wasn't kind and forgiving like Tenchi. No, Ryoko was none of those things. She was a space pirate, and Hotsuma had been one too, and that was why she had fun with him. He didn't reprimand her for what she was but had accepted her because they were one and the same.

_"What we both want can only be gained by blood, fire, and disaster!"_

"Couldn't you have had a change of heart, lover boy? Then we could have kept having fun," Ryoko muttered distastefully, remembering that the last time she has called Hotsuma that he'd been trying to kill her.

Sure, Hotsuma had accepted her for being a ruthless pirate, but he hadn't accepted any of her other faults. He'd said that he wished he wouldn't have had to stage this whole charade but could have instead just taken care of things right from the get go. Yet try as she might, Ryoko couldn't make herself feel the same anger toward him as she had before. Perhaps his death had tempered her rage, for when she thought of Hotsuma now she could only picture him laughing warmly at her antics and how he'd pushed her out of the way and taken the hit that had been meant for her.

"Hey Ryoko! Ryoko, are you out here? Hey Ryoko!"

Startled from her thoughts by Tenchi's voice, Ryoko blinked and then teleported down from the tree branch and back to the ground.

"Ahh! You scared me! You know Ryoko, I wish you would warn me before you just teleport in front of me like that!" Tenchi exclaimed, clutching at his chest as he laughed sheepishly. Ryoko stayed silent, and Tenchi's expression fell quickly to one of somber guilt.

"Look Ryoko, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that. It's just-" Tenchi began, but stopped when Ryoko held up one clawed hand. This scene was familiar too: Tenchi finding her and apologizing, looking and sounding so sincere when he did that Ryoko, always the fool, thinking that these apologies could possibly mean something, accepted them without a second thought.

"It's okay Tenchi, I forgive you. I get it, it's hard," Ryoko said, smiling enough for one fang to rest against her bottom lip. Tenchi seemed surprised, and then he was smiling too.

"Yeah, I guess it is. Thank you Ryoko," He said.

"Sure," Ryoko replied. Her smile faded slowly as her thoughts returned to her. Hotsuma…

"Hey Ryoko, um…. What's that you've got there?" Tenchi asked, disrupting her thoughts once more. Ryoko blinked and for a second time her golden eyes focused on the glasses she held in her hands. She uncurled her fingers and allowed Tenchi to look at the broken and warped glasses lying on her palms.

"They're a… souvenir. From a friends," Ryoko answered, surprising herself only slightly that she had considered Hotsuma a friend. Memories of the time she'd spent with him came back to her, him cooking for her, him laughing because of her, his hand, warm and calloused, resting on her shoulder, him taking a bullet for her…. The bad memories were there too, but they hardly seemed to matter now.

"Really? Another friend? Is it Nagi?" Tenchi teased lightly. Ryoko allowed herself to take the bait and banished thoughts of Hotsuma from her head as she reverted back to her usual attitude.

"No it is not Nagi! I hate that witch! You know that Tenchi, don't you?" Ryoko pouted as she floated over to Tenchi and put an arm around him.

"Yeah yeah, I know, don't worry," Tenchi laughed as he sidestepped away from her, evading her grasp once again. Then his expression became a more serious one. "Well if they aren't from Nagi, who are they from?"

"Ah ah ah, I don't think so. You're entitled to your secrets about what happened in Tokyo, so I'm entitled to mine. It's only fair Tenchi," Ryoko teased, way more serious than she was letting on. She didn't want anyone to know about Hotsuma. Kiyone and Mihoshi couldn't be helped, but they still didn't know anything about what had happened with him. And she would keep it that way. She didn't want Tenchi to know about Hotsuma. He was her little secret.

"I guess so," Tenchi concluded, smiling. "Well, we should be getting back to the house now. Soon everyone will come looking for us." He laughed, then turned and began walking through the trees on the way back to his house. Almost as an afterthought he stopped and looked back at her.

"You should invite him over for dinner one day Ryoko. Your friend I mean, He said, and then he turned and kept going. Ryoko floated after him, tucking the glasses back securely into the folds of her dress. She knew that she should just throw them away and that it was stupid to hang onto them, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Getting rid of his glasses would be comparable to getting rid of her thoughts of Hotsuma, and she couldn't do that. No matter how many times she told herself to stop thinking about him, the blonde space pirate always found his way back into her thoughts.

"You have no idea how much I would like to Tenchi. No idea at all," Ryoko mumbled softly to herself, marveling at the fact that he had already invaded her head once more. Hotsuma…

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Yay, that was it! So how did you all like it?? Well, just leave me a review and be sure to tell me! Thank you!


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